A Dead Man with a Box
by DreamQueen53
Summary: The Doctor is a man of many secrets, but what happens when he falls back into one of his very best kept follies and has to watch himself go through a world of the undead as an unwanted visitor? And more importantly, how will River react to a long since dead and gone love of the Doctor that comes back to bite him...literally?
1. Chapter 1

The Tardis was out of controll-yet again-only this time, it wasn't the Tardis's fault. Something was _dragging _it. Amy screeched as the blue box toppled to one side and the Doctor and all his bowtie glory splatted her against a wall.

"UGH! Doctor get your fat butt off me!" She yelled as she struggled against his weight.

"SORRY! SORRY AMELIA!" he yelled back as he pushed himself away from her.

"DON'T CALL ME AMELIA!" she screamed as the tardis shifted again. This time, as he fell, he grabbed one of the brown bars that surrounded the control panel and held on for dear life. Amy, however, wasn't so lucky and rocketed past him. Rory slammed into the doctor's rear and then fell to the floor before sliping into Amy.

It turned yet again with a moaning noise that made the Doctor's hearts sink and Amy fell into him, grabbing his suspenders. She fell away again, still holding the red suspenders in her hands. The elastic cords streached across as far as they would allow and the doctor gasped, "oh no." He muttered. Amy grabbed on of the poles and then let go of the suspenders, sending them rocketing back into him. He gasped in pain and let go of the rail.

He fell into the control panel and watched the several blinking screens before him, "we're being toed by an unknown ship!" he yelled.

He scrambled to the doors the best he could and looked out.

"OH OF COURSE IT WOULD BE YOU!" he cried as he saw none other than River Song sitting cross legged in the doorway of a helicopter.

"Hello Sweetie!" she waved innocently.

"RIVER! Put my Tardis down!" he yelled.

She shrugged, "if that's really what you want." She then took off her heavily heeled boot, hooked it around the cable that connected the two vehicles and slid across it, landing skillfully and wrapping her arms around the doctors neck. She kissed his lips as he stared at her in confusion and she reached up. she derooted the cord that held the tardis in place, "but i can't promise a smooth ride." she winked as the box began to tear through the air at the rapidly approaching earth.

"RIVER!" he yelled, slamming the doors shut and running to the controls. He began pressing buttons, "the breaks aren't catching!" he hissed in terror.

Amy and Rory both screamed.

"well maybe if you didn't leave them on all the time they'd work better." River said, looking at her nails.

The Doctor had to fight back a found smile as he continued, "well have to do an emergency flight!" he informed them, typing in random numbers. The Tardis engines sounded and off they went. When they landed, the doctor turned to River, breathing heavily. He stood straight, fixed his bowtie and pushed his hair back away from his face. Then he walked as close as he dared to the wild woman and put his hand against the wall, "you naughty, naughty girl, River."

She chuckled, "Oh doctor stop, my parent are watching."

"Eh, yeah, none of that please." Rory uttered awkwardly.

The doctor grinned and backed away from River, "so, were are we? Amy, any guesses?"

"Um...the moon?" she tried.

He sniffed, "No."

"Mars?" Rory attempted.

"wrong."

"A ship of some sort?" River added.

"Probably not."

"wait, probably?" Amy asked.

The doctor shrugged, "Yes."

"You mean to tell me you _probably _know where we are?" she accused.

"Oh no, not at all. I have no idea where we are." he laughed, "i though you would have a guess."

"Well obviously not, we're just human!" Rory sighed.

"well, yeah, i noticed that a while ago." the doctor chuckled.

He smelled the air once more to try and get an idea of where they where and gasped. He did know where they were. He'd been there once before. And he _never_ wanted to go back.

Just then river smiled and said, "well lets go see, shall we pretty boy?"

She saughtered over to the T.A.R.D.I.S door and began to push it open, but the Doctor aggressively stormed over- which was not like him at all- and grabbed her waist, "Don't you dare River." he growled, pulling her back over to the benches and the console and forcing her to sit.

"Oi, Doctor, what's the big idea?" she cried as he himself marched up to the door. He gingerly put his ear against the smooth wood and listened.

"Doctor, I don't understand..." Amy complained.

"Shh." he ordered.

"But Doctor, shouldn't we-,"

"_SHUTUP!_" he roared.

Amy and Rory jumped and Rory looked at Amy in utter surprise.

He listened for a moment and heard the hissy, draft breathing of several things not meant to live. He felt sweat forming on the back of his neck.

"Doctor, have you been here before?" River asked quietly.

"Yes." he breathed, still listening at the door.

"Is it...bad? what ever is out there, is it bad?" Amy inquired.

"...Yes. So bad." he whispered, backing away from the door carefully, "what ever is out there, it's to terrible, i can't even think about it...its just to bad for me to help, it s to far gone. It's really best if we just...leave." He trailed off, starting up the T.A.R.D.I.S. and beginning take off.

Suddenly his telephone rang and the members of the shadow proclamation appeared on a screen, "Doctor, what are you doing?" one asked.

"I'm leaving, and please let me." he said harshly.

"Doctor, you do realize where you are in the Universe, don't you?" he asked.

"Of course i do. You think i'd forget a place like this?" he snapped.

"So you do know you aren't allowed to leave, don't you?" he asked.

"aren't allowed, what does he mean Doctor?" River asked.

"River, please. " he sighed, "look, we haven't left the T.A.R.D.I.S. since we landed, the doors have stayed closed, no one is infected apart from the obvious, we're still healthy, so please let us leave."

The man sighed, "I'll see what we can do. You may be stuck there for a while. While you're waiting, if any one in your ship is infected though, we'll have to exterminate you."

The doctor sighed, "understood, Thank you Mr. Dalek."

the shadow proclamation logged off, ignoring his side remark.

"What do you mean infected?" Rory asked.

"Nothing."

"no, not nothing. what did he mean?" River asked.

"Nothing that concerns you." he snapped.

Amy sighed, "well if we're stuck here, we better go meet the natives."

"No Amy." The doctor ordered.

"Well, i want to see were we are as well, just a peak." Rory added.

"no, both of you stop." he said, irritated.

"Oh come one Doctor, lets go exploring." River agreed.

They all turned towards the blue doors of the T.A.R.D.I.S. and heard the doctor running around behind them. That's when they heard a threatening clicking noise. They all turned and froze in surprise to find the doctor aiming the barrel of a silver revolver at them with his finger on the trigger.

'I'm sorry it has to come to this, friends." he said harshly, "but i'm more likely to shoot you then to allow you to step into your most promised death sentence of you're existence, so get away from the door, _please_."

They all put their hands up and backed toward the console. He lowered the gun and tucked it into his pants, "Okay, good, now stay there, don't leave because i'm the only one that can, don't make a lot of noise and please don't touch my gun, it means allot to me, it used to be my friends." He said.

"doctor, tell us whats going on." Amy ordered.

The doctor sighed, "You want the truth?" he asked.

They all nodded, "Fine." He agreed, "there was a virus that spread across earth from a volcanic eruption. IT was a very old virus and so no one had any immunity to it. At all. so it wiped out the earth and turned all of the humans into blood thirsty monsters, they look very dead, but they're not" he explained.

"so why can you go out and not us?" River asked.

"Because i built up an immunity. Have you ever noticed the yellow in my eyes?" he asked.

Amy and Rory shook their heads but River nodded. He beckoned Amy and Rory over and he leaned in so they could see his iris's clearly. Sure enough, there was a bright, yellow streak right though the emerald green of his eyes.

"what does that mean?" River asked.

"It means i already am infected, but i'm not contagious unless i bite you. I have the disease, so i cant get sick from it anymore, but you still can, so when i go out, you don't touch me until i disinfect."

"So who's gun was it?"

"Oh, just an old friends that died,"

Suddenly they heard a banging on the door and gasped as a harsh, southernly accented voice of a teenage girl called, "doctor, are you in there, it's me, Clair."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Sorry if it's less awesome then the first chapter, I haven't written about this one in about six months, so it'll get better :)**

* * *

"Doctor, who's that-," Rory asked before the doctor, who had become nothing more than a blank stare, suddenly jumped at him in a very quick, movement, and the gun he'd been wielding drew close to his lips. After Rory flinched from this abrupt twitch, he looked back at the doctor to see him using the barrel of the weapon to the same degree of the expression, "shh," and he fell silent as the entire TARDIS seemed to stare at him.

"_Doctor! _Are you in there?" Yelled Clair again, then she paused for a long moment and continued after silence was all that answered her, "I'm not actually asking by the way, I'm ordering you out here."

The doctor smiled absently as he drifted nearer the doors of the TARDIS like a ghost.

Then he halted in his passage when a second voice, a man who was also British scoffed from somewhere just beyond the mad man's time.

"Oi, so now you order me do you?" he asked.

"of course I do, you would forget to eat if I didn't." she laughed as a hefty sigh came from the lungs of the other man.

The doctor drifted over to the control panel and began typing in random things. A screen that had remained nothing but snow for a long time suddenly flickered to life and there at door of the blue box stood Clair; she was about five foot even, and was other wise indescribable because she was bulging in a think winter coat that was much to large for her, and covered all except her eyes that shone like lights under a beanie and a brown, wool scarf.

Next to here stood the curious face of another man who was tall, and much to thin, also in a coat much to large for him and standing idly with his hands in his pockets. His face was uncovered, but nearly blue and smoke billowed out of his mouth like something in the depths of it was on fire. Deep brown eyes disrupted by voluminous, greasy hair looked right into the camera that beheld them like he knew it was there, and River, who had peaked over the doctor's shoulder to see what he saw, looked up at him in stunned remembrance.

Neither of them looked none to clean and blood and dirt was smeared all over them like paint. He stayed quiet without even the sound of a breath leaving his lips and watched as they shook the doors, and hit the sides, then frowned as Clair sighed and took a step back. He knew her much to well to think she was just leaving, so she watched her walk off screen, heard nonchalant whistling, then suddenly barbaric yelling followed by a stunned, "what are you..?" from the man gave way to Clair bulleting back on camera and ramming as hard as her little body could manage into the wooden doors. The TARDIS didn't like that, so they resisted and she was flung back into her friend, who had lumbered up after her in stalled progress. He sighed at her as she glared at the doors like they'd slapped her, "you can't break into a TARDIS. You need the key." he informed her.

"wait..." Amy chimed in as Clair's face fell, "how would he know?"

Eleven sighed, "that's me." he muttered as Ten patted her compassionately on the shoulder.

Her and Rory's mouths both fell open at the hinges and the looked back a the camera. It was so quiet in the control room that they could all hear the TARDIS breathing. Suddenly Clair straightened out and she began to jump up and down, "don't you have a key?" she asked.

He frowned, "well yes, but it might not-,"

"i don't care, let me see it." she ordered.

He sighed, "this isn't a good Idea, if I'm in there, this could be a big no-no."

"Well..." she glanced slyly at the doors, "no ones home."

Ten groaned and pulled the key off of his neck. She snatched it from him before it was all the way off of his ears, and sent him catapulting down to her level for a few seconds. He straightened out to see her jamming the key into the lock and twisting it the wrong way.

She sighed and began to turn it the other way, but a microphone was already to the Doctor's mouth and he nearly shouted, "take your filthy key out of my TARDIS."

Ten took a step back and stared at the camera like it was shining a very bright light into his eyes.

"My keys not filthy..." he muttered.

Clair took it out of the lock and then looked at it, "there's blood on it." she told him.

"yeah, and?"

"Covered in blood doesn't mean clean in your language, does it?" she asked sarcastically.

He laughed lightly, then suddenly shook his head, "no, no."

"go away." Eleven ordered.

"What are you doing in there?" Clair asked Ten like they where just drinking coffee in a shop like old friends.

"I don't know." Ten shrugged in the same manner.

"Oi!" Eleven barked, "back away from the space ship."

Ten obeyed intelligently and began to stalk away from the blue box, but Clair leaned in a little and asked, "why?"

Eleven chuckled fondly and River stared at him for a moment, then butted him out of the way, "Because you belong in the school yard little girl, now go home."

"Excuse me?" Clair drawled, and it was evident to both doctors that a cat fight was on the hinge of ripping apart the craft's doors between them, but suddenly the young girl froze mid head-swivel (which by the way appeared more to be just a pair of eyes that didn't know which way to go) and looked to the side, then pulled Ten by the arm the opposite direction.

At first, the occupants inside of the TARDIS had no way to tell what was happening, but then the rabbid sound of dart-like breathing filled the panel until the speakers on the camera rumbled, and a blur of stumbling, twitching, drooling, snapping, and sometimes screaming people clambered one by one, group by group in front of the quartets eyes. "Run doctor!" They heard Clair over the breathing.

"I am!" was the response, followed by a skid and a thunk and pained cries.

The doctor paled and gripped the screen, "what?" he asked as Clair's frantic squeals began to shine through the breathing, along with the tortured moans of Ten.

"what?" asked Amy.

"WHAT!" yelled eleven in desperation.

"WHAT?" Rory cried.

"THIS ISN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!" he yelled with all of the air he could, "I REMEMBER THIS, THIS ISN'T HOW IT HAPPENS!" he continued as the three around him slowly began to back away. He trembled and almost like it had felt him, one of the people stopped, froze right in front of his eyes and looked right at the camera like it knew he was there.

In that second, something changed about the Doctor. Amy felt it, Rory felt it, River felt it, the TARDIS felt it. The whole ship bent in a knew direction, and the his face hardened like rock, and set in a glare that was never worn before...or at least not in front of them. His hands trembled but his feet were steady, and his breathing was harsh like the thing the camera held for only for a moment.

"Doctor?" Amy began to utter, but the first syllable was sucked up in a flurry of rage and blind stupidity as the gun that had been thrown around from time to time was suddenly gripped in the mad man's hands, and the trembling- which was much like the growl of a stomach- went steady like stone and just like that, the TARDIS doors had opened and shut and he was on the camera now. He waited just long enough for one of the undead to stumble up to him, then he brought the gun to it's head and blew it's brains all over the blue of the box, creating a sick purple and running down like rain as the body dropped and his friends gasped.

He marched out of the view of the TARDIS camera, and into Clair's.

Ten was rested heavily in her small arms as a his foot sat nearly backwards on his leg and she attempted to pull him away slowly, all while he tried with blurred aim to ward the things off by kicking them with his good leg.

Eleven sighed and marched up, blowing head after head after head onto the ground like it was a circus game, then finally splattering blood all over Clair's coat and the doctor's face as one reached out to grab his injured leg, making him scream because it literally tried to pull it off and brought the small girl to her knees. He picked the other doctor up, careful not to touch a single inch of his bare skin, and pulled at Clair's hand, "run!" he ordered as a hoard began to swallow them up.

They bolted and he shot his gun. His aim was impeccable and when his bullets where gone, he bashed sculls in expertly until they where in the bones of a once-city.

From there, he tore into a car insurance building and shut the door, laying the other him on the floor behind the desk and forcing Clair down too.

They all sat there in silence for too long as Clair glared at Eleven and Eleven glared at Ten and Ten laughed at a fern plant (delusional from pain no doubt) then when if finally went silent, he sat up, "Clair-,"

"How do you know my name?" she asked defensively.

He sighed, "you told it to me, remember?"

she smiled bashfully, "Oh yeah."

He laughed to himself, and again called her, "Clair, I need to you to follow my instruction on how to care for your friend here."

He said this in reference to himself.

"Uh...Okay?"


End file.
